By Ewen McRae
With blockbuster movie Toy Story 4 sweeping through theatres, Reading Cinema’s in Melton are preparing to send some pre-loved toys on a new adventure.
The cinema chain is collecting second-hand toys at all their theatres to donate to the Save the Children charity, giving old toys a second life with those that need them.
Cinema complex manager Tamara Watkins said the early response from the community had been really positive.
“It’s been amazing so far,” Ms Watkins said.
“We’ve had stacks and stacks of boxes taken away to be sorted already, and every day more pre-loved toys are being donated which is great.
“This is the first time we’ve done something like this, but we do lots of fundraisers and work closely with the community to help where we can. This is a nice way to tie in such a well loved movie to do some good work for a worthy charity.”
Donated toys must still be in good working order, have all their parts and be clean. Any broken toys that are donated will be recycled.
Save the Children work to help children in need around the world, with their program contributing toys to a community-run toy library service that aims to make sure no child misses out on the joy of playing with quality toys.
“It’s absolutely manic at the moment with school holidays and lots of movies aimed at kids, so it’s a good time to run this campaign,” Ms Watkins said.
Toys can be donated at the cinema until August 21.
